HotForex Review

Alongside its enhanced MetaTrader offering, HotForex provides a good selection of tradeable products. However, HotForex does trail leading multi-asset brokers in overall platform depth.

Top Takeaways for 2020

Here are our top findings on HotForex:

• Founded in 2010, HotForex is regulated in one tier-1 jurisdiction and three tier-2 jurisdictions, making it a safe broker (average-risk) for forex and CFDs trading.
• HotForex is a MetaTrader broker that offers the full MetaTrader suite with an optional tools package for customers called Premium Trader Tools to enhance the default experience. Customers have access to over 1000 securities, including CFDs on popular instruments and nearly 50 forex pairs.
• With six different account type options, pricing at HotForex varies greatly by account type. HotForex's pricing is slightly better than the industry average; however, pricing still trails low-cost leaders such as CMC Markets and IG.

Overall Summary

Please Note: HotForex was not included in the 2021 annual review. As a result, this broker's ratings may be outdated. Read our best forex brokers guide for a breakdown of the top rated forex and CFDs brokers for 2021.

Is HotForex Safe?

HotForex is considered average-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 83 out of 99. HotForex is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. HotForex is authorised by one tier-1 regulator (high trust), three tier-2 regulators (average trust), and one tier-3 regulator (low trust). HotForex is authorised by the following tier-1 regulator: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.

Regulations Comparison

Offering of Investments

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to HotForex clients.

Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available from any broker's UK entity, nor to UK residents.

Commissions and Fees

HotForex offers five account types, all of which are spread-only (commission-free) except the commission-based Zero account. The Premium and Premium Pro accounts are spread-only, with minimum deposits ranging from $50 to $600, and the HFcopy account is for copy trading. Based on the data displayed by HotForex, the Zero account is most competitive as it features the lowest spreads and a small per trade commission.

Account comparisons: On the Zero account, typical spreads are 0.1 pips on the EUR/USD and incur a commission of roughly 0.6 pips ($3 per side) per trade, totaling an all-in cost of 0.7 pips. On the Zero account, trading costs are lower, but margin requirements are twice as high as the Premium account, where typical spreads are 1.2 pips. In addition, there is a volume limit of 60 lots per account (7 lots on the micro account), which is far more restricted than FxPro or IG.

Published data: While HotForex lists typical spreads across its account types, the broker does not list a date range for the data. We'd like to see an average spread published for a given period, as it is hard to otherwise quantify a variable spread.

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Platforms and Tools

HotForex is a MetaTrader broker that offers the entire MetaTrader suite, including both MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) desktop and web. The desktop version supports automated trading systems known as Experts through the MQL5 signals community.

While MT4 and MT5 come standard, HotForex does provide customers an optional suite of trader tools, called Premium Trader Tools, developed by FX Blue Labs. Highlights from the 12 tools provided in the package include Trade Terminal for advanced order execution, Connect for news, Alarm Manager for alerts, and additional technical indicators like Renko bars, pivot points, and order history. The Advanced Insights plugin is also available.

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Research

HotForex provides research resources that are, overall, on par with the industry standard.

Research overview: HotForex includes analysis and trading tools from in-house staff alongside third-party providers. FxStreet provides forex news, and trading signals generated by automated pattern recognition are available from Autochartist. In addition to an economic calendar, HotForex's in-house team of analysts provides a daily market update, along with a monthly, quarterly, and annual outlook. There are also client sentiment data available on the web on HotForex's Traders Board module.

HF Copy: HotForex offers a social copy trading platform called HFcopy, where you need at least 1000 EUR to become a strategy provider or 300 EUR to follow (copy) an existing one. With the service being new, I did not see many providers available on HFcopy. Similarly, those that are live have a limited trading history. For example, there are just seven strategies, and the top one has three subscribers, compared to copy trading leader eToro which has been operating for over a decade.

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Education

HotForex provides a variety of educational content, which ranges from over 26 articles in its e-course to several ebooks and dozens of videos. I found the content to be okay, a touch above the industry average, when compared to the best forex brokers in this category.

For example, some of the advanced videos were barely a minute long and lacked detail. Expanding the length and quality of the materials would help HotForex build on its existing foundation for educational content for traders. At the same time, I found the other content that HotForex offers useful, such as the history of CFDs and Stocks. Last but not least, HotForex's YouTube channel had some good quality educational videos such as short clips explaining what a Parabolic SAR (Stop and Reverse) indicator is. Expanding this category further will help bring it closer to peers.

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Mobile Trading

At HotForex, MT4 and MT5 come standard on Android and iOS. HotForex's scoring for this category matches that of other MetaTrader-only brokers.

HF App: It is worth noting that HotForex also offers HF App, which is its proprietary mobile platform with various research and trading tools. While I like the HF app, I did not like that you cannot trade from it yet. Until trading functionality is added to the app, I would not recommend it over MetaTrader.

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Final Thoughts

HotForex is suitable for traders looking for a MetaTrader-only broker that has a handful of additional upgrades from the standard, default setup.

About HotForex

Founded in 2010, HotForex operates as a unified brand of the HF Markets Group and maintains a regulatory status in Europe via Cyprus under its HF Markets (Europe) Ltd entity and in the UK with its FCA-regulated entity HF Markets UK Limited. It is also represented in several emerging regulatory hubs such as South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, and St. Vincent and The Grenadines.

Forex Risk Disclaimer

"There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses." Learn more.